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In The Beginnings of Writing, the authors give the clearest, most comprehensive source on young children's development of writing, illustrating every concept with student artifacts. From scribbles and invented spelling to composition, this book also presents the most careful attention to children's development available, illuminating what they are trying to do as they write. Using this highly popular, well-respected book as a guide, teachers gain a practical, clear understanding of each child's present challenges and successes as (s)he develops competence in writing and develop the skills needed to offer appropriate instruction and support at each point in the child's learning.

Charles Temple, Ph.D. teaches courses in literacy, storytelling, children’s literature, and peace studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in Geneva, New York. He has co-authored many editions of All Children Read, Understanding Reading Problems, Children’s Books in Children’s Hands, and also Intervening for Literacy and The Developmental Literacy Inventory, as well as a handful of books for children. Temple volunteers in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, East and West Africa, and South America as a teacher trainer and children’s book developer through the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project and CODE Canada. He has a large and wonderful family and an aging Springer spaniel. He plays guitar and banjo. He sails, slowly, on Seneca Lake in Upstate New York, and other places, too, when he can.

Dr. Ruth Nathan, formerly an elementary and middle school teacher and university instructor and researcher, is currently working as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and as the developer of a second and third grade curriculum for a bay-area start-up. Directly prior to her current position at Berkeley, she served as a school-based, language and literacy consultant, as well as an educational consultant in the private sector. You’ll find publications by Ruth in such diverse journals as Child Development, Reading Research Quarterly, and Language Arts. She’s written several books and chapters on literacy and has developed curriculum for LeapFrog SchoolHouse and Great Source/Houghton Mifflin. She’s written several columns for GRAND Magazine, a magazine for grandparents, and is the co-author of the chapter on orthographic development in the most recent edition of the Reading Research Handbook. She lives in Alamo, California, with her husband, Larry. Three grandchildren live nearby.

Codruta Temple taught English and French in Romania before moving to the United States, where she earned a Ph.D. in English Education and Linguistics from Syracuse University. She now teaches ESL literacy and second language methods courses at State University of New York College at Cortland. She has co-authored the eighth edition of Understanding Reading Problems: Assessment and Instruction (Pearson), has contributed a chapter to the edited text Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction (Guilford), and has presented several papers on content area literacy at NCTE and AERA national conventions over the past six years. She lives in Geneva, New York, with her husband, son, and dog, and travels whenever she can to California, Texas, Illinois, the Netherlands, and Romania, to see her other six children, her grandson, her mother, and her grandmother.

Preface

Chapter One: A Child Discovers How to Write

YUTS A LADE YET FEHEG AD HE KOT FLEPR

YUTS A LADE and You

What’s Next?

SECTION ONE: The Beginnings of Writing

Chapter Two: The Beginnings of Handwriting

The History of the Alphabet

The Evolution of Handwriting

Chapter Three: Learning to Write at the Level of Letters

Introduction

The Precursors of Writing

Discovering the Basics of the Writing System

Children and Iconic Writing

Children and Syllabic Writing

The Appearance of Letters: Graphic Principles

Strategies for Early Writing

Encouraging Children to Make Print

Providing Models of Writing

Suggestions That Get Children Writing

Handwriting in the Curriculum

Assessing and Teaching Handwriting

Handwriting Assessments

Handwriting Instruction Programs

Conclusion

SECTION TWO: The Beginnings of Spelling

Chapter Four: What is there to learn about English spelling?

Introduction

The Disappointment of English

How We Make Speech Sounds

What are Phonemes, Really?

How We Make Speech Sounds

How Vowels Are Made

How Vowels Are Represented in IPA

How Consonants Are Made

The Development of English Spelling

Runes Were Alphabet Letters

The Coming of the Roman Alphabet

The Norman Invasion

Steam Radiators, Minims, U’s, O’s, and N’s

Long Vowels, Short Vowels, and the Great Vowel Shift

Latin and (and in) English

Printing and the (Almost) Standardization of English Spelling

Toward Modern Spelling

English and the World

Greek and Latin Continue to Influence English

English Spelling and English Language Learners

Conclusion

Chapter Five: A Close Look at Children’s Invented Spelling

Introduction

A Progression of Spelling Development

Prephonemic Spelling

Early Phonemic spelling

Letter-Name Spelling

Transitional Spelling

Chapter Six: Helping Children Make Progress in Spelling

Introduction

Assessing Children’s Spelling Development

Spelling Knowledge Inventory

The Gentry Spelling Grade-Level Test

Helping Children Make Progress in Spelling

For the Prephonemic Speller

For the Early Phonemic Speller

For the Letter-Name Speller

For the Transitional Speller

Teaching Spelling Words

Working with English Language Learners

Conclusion

SECTION THREE: The Beginnings of Composition

Chapter Seven

Introduction

Composition: Who Defined Our Choices?

How Did the Teaching of Writing Evolve?

Children Discover the Forms and Functions of Composition

Self, Audience, Topic, and Purpose: A Menu of Writing Forms

The Expressive Function

The Poetic Function

The Transactional Function

Conclusion

Chapter Eight: Writing in the Expressive Mode

Introduction

A Variety of Expressive Writing Forms

Assumptions About Expressive Writing: Symbol Systems and Thinking

Concerns About Expressive Writing in the Classroom

Classroom Strategies that Promote Expressive Writing

Working with English Language Learners

Conclusion (needs to be added)

Useful Teacher Resources

Chapter Nine: Writing in the Poetic Mode

Introduction

Children Write Stories: Development and Instruction

Stages and Interpretations

Caveats and Considerations

Nine Intermediate Forms: Developing Story Structures

Labels

Statements

No Structure

Descriptive Sequence

Action Sequence

Reactive Sequence

Goal-directed 1

Goal-directed 2

Goal-directed 3

Goal directed 4

Joey’s Works: A First Grader Learns to Write Stories

Sarah’s Works: Literature Influences Story Development

Helping Children Write Stories

Teaching the Structure of Stories

Outer Actions and Inner States: Souriau’s Dramatic Roles

Useful Ways of Assessing Story Writing

Poetry

Working with English Language Learners

Conclusion

Useful Teacher Resources

Chapter Ten: Writing in the Transactional Mode

Introduction

Transactional Writing: Explaining, Describing, and Arguing

The Importance of Transactional Texts in Children’s Lives

Developmental Trends in Writing Exposition

Teaching Strategies and Assessment

Encouraging Writing/Thinking in a Variety of Genres and Across Modes

Working with English Language Learners

Useful Ways of Assessing Transactional Writing

Conclusion

Useful Teacher Resources

Chapter Eleven: Writing: The Child, The Teacher, and the Class

Writing is a Social Activity

A Description of the Writing Process

The Stages of Writing

Atmosphere, Assignment and Response: The Teacher’s Role in the Writing Process